Has Ebay changed its closing process ?

[secret santa]

I've noticed recently that my customary process of submitting my bid and confirming with less than 10 seconds to go mysteriously brings up another few minutes of bidding. Has anyone else noticed this and can they explain how and why it works like this ?

[Kipster]

1 hour ago, secret santa said:

I've noticed recently that my customary process of submitting my bid and confirming with less than 10 seconds to go mysteriously brings up another few minutes of bidding. Has anyone else noticed this and can they explain how and why it works like this ?

Are you doing this on the app, or on the desktop? 

[secret santa]

Desktop PC

[1949threepence]

I've said before that there is an issue with the timer on e bay. If you watch it counting down, it sometimes stops, and even goes back forward a second. When you come to make your manual <10 seconds to go bid, you find that it occasionally still carries on after what should be the finish time. Although I've not noticed it go on for more than a few seconds (maybe 5 to 7 seconds) - certainly not a few minutes. But I placed a radio controlled clock by the side of the PC in one auction, and the actual e bay finish time was out of synch with the clock, as I worked using the clock not the timer, and the bidding availability still continued after the clock exceeded the stated auction finish time.

So something is wrong. Also it has caused me to lose out on more than one item concerned. 

     

Edited January 18, 2023 by 1949threepence

[secret santa]

Yes, my experiences range from 20-30 seconds to 3-4 minutes. At one point it says that auction is closed and then mysteriously continues running for a while. It never used to be like that, i.e I've only noticed it in the last 2 or 3 months.

[1949threepence]

15 minutes ago, secret santa said:

Yes, my experiences range from 20-30 seconds to 3-4 minutes. At one point it says that auction is closed and then mysteriously continues running for a while. It never used to be like that, i.e I've only noticed it in the last 2 or 3 months.

I first noticed slight time discrepancies as long ago as 2017. So maybe it's now getting worse and much more noticeable. 

[Sword]

I have never experienced that. I try to submit my bid in the last few seconds and the auctions ended on the time expected.

[DrLarry]

6 hours ago, secret santa said:

Yes, my experiences range from 20-30 seconds to 3-4 minutes. At one point it says that auction is closed and then mysteriously continues running for a while. It never used to be like that, i.e I've only noticed it in the last 2 or 3 months.

if so it is quite a clever way of getting more bids in they have obviously noticed that everyone puts them in 10 seconds before 

[Coinery]

5 hours ago, Sword said:

I have never experienced that. I try to submit my bid in the last few seconds and the auctions ended on the time expected.

My experience too!

[1887jubilee]

I have noticed the pips on the radio, the time on my phone and the clock on ebay are all different. The computer is about 3 seconds behind and I put this down to some electronic lag. I think ebay allows several pre electronically generated bids to unravel after the final time. You can check by looking at the bids button to see what time each bid was made.

[VickySilver]

Hmm, I am here in Maryland in the States so might be different but have not had exactly that yet to happen. I usually snipe at about 4 seconds and there is enough time to submit a "response" bid of one, two, or three increments at that level. Maybe they can elucidate?  Good luck as they are not that accessible. I have only had issue unrelated when purchasing bullion even though I have NEVER had a credit issue and have a 100.0 rating. If I don't check ahead of time the system rejects my bid.

[secret santa]

 

The above screenshot shows that I submitted a bid 2 seconds before the auction ended at 1:58 (I think I actually submitted it more like 20 seconds before the end) but was then able to enter another bid at 38 seconds after 1:58. This may suggest that the auction ends after 1:58 and 59 seconds but I have seen an auction continue beyond the minute after the end time.

[blakeyboy]

Pips on FM and time on MacBook the same, as far as I can see.

Online BBC pips miles out- still amusing how slow digital is.

[Rob]

Is part of the problem terrestrial vs satellite signal transmission?

[blakeyboy]

This is what I'm thinking, propagation delay plus digital latency.

Processing takes time- digital's Achilles Heel.

 

 

 

[blakeyboy]

Just had the pips on FM, Apple laptop time, and Junghans radio controlled clock all agree.

Ebay is a 24hr clock version of pacific Time.

[Peckris 2]

On 1/21/2023 at 11:36 AM, blakeyboy said:

Pips on FM and time on MacBook the same, as far as I can see.

Online BBC pips miles out- still amusing how slow digital is.

BBC pips where? If in a browser, you'll find it's automatically a minute behind the actual time. I don't know why but that's how it is. I can live with it but it's a major irritation at midnight on New Year's Eve.

[blakeyboy]

I think the BBC Pips should be released back into the wild....

[1949threepence]

Well I've just bid on a coin, and the clock was clearly massively out of order. When it got down to about 10 seconds, it literally started going the other way. Just bizarre.

I did win the coin, but there is a major major issue, which I'm filming next time and posting on here as well as sending to e bay.

Got  a screenshot which shows that I'm the high bidder, but also that the auction had ended................ Useless, they're wise to that and have obviously put some sort of block on screenshots as it's just come out with the e bay image.

 

 

 

 

[1949threepence]

I have managed to get this though, from the bidder's list. It clearly shows that the auction was supposed to finish at dead on 20:16. But the late bids, including mine, clearly prove that bids were made and accepted after the deadline. I made my bid as soon as the clock started going in the other direction, and the details show it was actually made post 20:16.

 

[Martinminerva]

13 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

It clearly shows that the auction was supposed to finish at dead on 20:16.

Not so, Mike. The "bids" list doesn't show the seconds that an item finishes at. For that you have to see the listing itself (screenshot pasted in by using the item number) and you'll see it was 20.16 and 42 seconds, thus the various "snipes". Listings rarely end exactly at 00 seconds unless a seller schedules a listing to go live later rather than in real time.

The clock weirdness you describe though I have noticed too in that they are not always in sync. Suspect latency in our broadband connections, and not sure if there is a solution to that. 

Hope that helps at least a bit...

 

[1949threepence]

13 minutes ago, Martinminerva said:

Not so, Mike. The "bids" list doesn't show the seconds that an item finishes at. For that you have to see the listing itself (screenshot pasted in by using the item number) and you'll see it was 20.16 and 42 seconds, thus the various "snipes". Listings rarely end exactly at 00 seconds unless a seller schedules a listing to go live later rather than in real time.

The clock weirdness you describe though I have noticed too in that they are not always in sync. Suspect latency in our broadband connections, and not sure if there is a solution to that. 

Hope that helps at least a bit...

 

Thanks, but again, that's slightly confusing as they always used to. The time given clearly indicated 20:16, with no seconds shown (or 8:16pm) 

The clock weirdness is way more than broadband connection issues. Again, it would never have done anything like that before.

Sorry, something is radically wrong.  

 

Edited March 15, 2023 by 1949threepence

[Martinminerva]

4 minutes ago, 1949threepence said:

as they always used to

Things are a more than a bit different, I agree, and there is a distinct difference between selling and buying.  If you list for, say, 10 days, your item is 10 days to the second from when you submit the listing, unless you schedule a listing to start later when it does default to 00 seconds. As a seller, you are told hours, minutes and seconds when your item will finish. I have been selling on ebay for 20 years and this has always been the case. Indeed, I always make a note of when my items finish to the second so I can follow the last few moments by refreshing the screen (as live updates have not appeared for years when viewing one of your own items).

What HAS changed I agree is that they do not now publish the "seconds" finish on a still live listing to prospective buyers - only when a listing has ended do they appear as in the screenshot above. This is a big nuisance, I absolutely agree! Maybe they have done that to try to control sniping?? Or maybe it is just sloppy coding - eminently possible given how ebay has gone over the last few years.

If you do get any reply or joy from ebay to your questions, do let us know here as things have certainly gone weird of late!

[jelida]

I’m afraid I was under bidder there, so cost you a few quid! I’m not too sad, as I already have several small date including one in very similar condition. But not a bad price anyhow, we’ll done!

Jerry

[1949threepence]

11 minutes ago, jelida said:

I’m afraid I was under bidder there, so cost you a few quid! I’m not too sad, as I already have several small date including one in very similar condition. But not a bad price anyhow, we’ll done!

Jerry

Thanks Jerry. Thought it was a very nice example of a small date 1858. Not entirely certain how scarce or otherwise they are, but either way, I still think it was worth it for the issue free condition alone.

Did you notice clock issues?

Incidentally, this has been flagged up by the e bay community. One or two have suggested switching to firefox - link. Not convinced, but might be worth a try.